Disposable sheets are often used for cleaning a floor or other hard surfaces. Such surfaces include countertops, benches, shelving, etc. Such surfaces may particularly include hard floors, typically comprising wood, tile, linoleum, etc. While the following specification and claims are discussed in terms of a floor, one of skill will recognize the invention is not so limited, and may be used in conjunction with other hard surfaces.
To remove stains or soils from the floor a cleaning sheet may be pre-wetted or may be used with a cleaning solution separately applied to the floor. The cleaning sheet may be manually gripped by the user, or the cleaning sheet may be used with an implement, as is known in the art. The cleaning sheet may be removably attached to the implement and discarded when its useful life is depleted.
The useful life may encompass a single cleaning task. For example when a single room is cleaned or multiple rooms comprising enough debris and area to render the sheet unusable or usable to a reduced efficacy, the user may consider the useful life of the sheet is depleted. Once the useful life is depleted, the user may discard the sheet and replace it with a new one, as necessary. The sheet is typically not laundered or otherwise restored.
When more difficult stains or soiling of the floor are encountered, the user may wish to engage in more aggressive cleaning to remove such stain or soiling. For example, the user may apply more cleaning solution and/or allow the cleaning solution to have a longer residence time. But this approach may not be successful for all types of stains or soiling, e.g. those not water soluble.
Alternatively or additionally, the user may use a scrub brush to remove the stain or soiling. But using a scrub brush defeats the purpose of employing a disposable sheet for the cleaning task. The scrub brush must be found, brought to the task, and replaced in storage when the cleaning task is completed.
Accordingly, some disposable cleaning sheets are provided with scrubbing components to provide more aggressive cleaning. Different scrubbing components are known for this purpose. However, to be consumer accepted, the scrubbing component must be inexpensive, be usable with a disposable sheet, yet effective for difficult cleaning tasks.
One scrubbing component which has been judged to meet these competing criteria is a scrubbing strip. The scrubbing strip may overlie all or a portion of a floor-facing surface of the cleaning sheet. The scrubbing strip may have more stiffness, abrasiveness, rigidity, etc. than the balance of the cleaning sheet. The scrubbing strip may comprise a textured nonwoven or a textured polymeric film, as described below. A nonwoven web is described in commonly assigned U.S. Pat. No. 6,383,431 and a web-like material is shown in WO 2005/011936 published Feb. 10, 2005. A scrubbing strip and cleaning sheet usable therewith may be generally made according to commonly assigned D551,409 S, D614,408 S, 2005/0076936A1 published Apr. 14, 2005, 2005/0081888A1 published Apr. 21, 2005 and/or 2007/0107151A1 published May 17, 2007.
Yet other disposable pads and scrubbing products are shown in U.S. Pat. No. 5,090,832 issued Feb. 25, 1992 and CA 2,508,110, respectively.
However, such scrubbing strips have not proven entirely effective. For example, on highly textured surfaces, such as grout lines in tile, the scrubbing strip may not reach far enough into the texture to clean all of that surface. Even if the scrubbing strip reaches into the recesses, etc. of the texture, the scrubbing strip may not efficaciously clean it. The other properties of the scrubbing strip may not promote efficacious cleaning, despite the scrubbing strip having a relatively rough surface texture. Accordingly, the search for improved cleaning continues.